How do your stocks rate in a low rate world?
Here’s the deal: you lend me $100. I pay you back $100 in the year 2066 with no interest in between. Does that sound fair? Would you take that deal? Well that’s what the Swiss government is currently offering – and many investors are taking it. We are living in a very strange and unprecedented […]
Would an American invest in an Australian bank?
In this column published in the Herald Sun, Andrew Macken compares American and Australian banks. How many American investors do you think are piling into Australian banks right now? Read here.
Why We’re Bullish on U.S. Healthcare
The affordability of U.S. healthcare frequently makes headlines in the news, and for a good reason. In 2013, the U.S. spent an incredible 17.4% of GDP on healthcare, the highest among high income nations. The issues for many Americans requiring healthcare are two-fold: affordability and access. Healthcare costs in the U.S. have become unaffordable for […]
Is the iron ore price rally sustainable?
Since late last year, the iron ore price has rallied by more than 50%, increasing from less than $40/tonne to approximately $60/tonne today. It has coincided with renewed optimism (by some) over a return to the credit-fueled fixed-asset-investment-led growth model that has characterized China over the last decade. Should Chinese policymakers instruct their banks to […]
U.S. Trucking Industry Running on Empty
The trucking industry has typically been thought of as a bellwether for the health of the American economy; increases in consumer and industrial demand result in a greater need to move raw materials and finished goods across the U.S. With that said, the current state of the U.S. trucking industry has mixed implications for the […]
Toning down the Big Aussie Short
Characterizing anything as a “big short” these days is a great way to turn heads. Following the success of last year’s Academy Award-winning movie, The Big Short – starring the likes of Christian Bale and Brad Pitt, everyone seems to be looking for the next “big short”. The movie was as entertaining as it was […]
Teradata: how did it get here?
Teradata is a pioneer and global leader in providing high end data warehouse and analytics technology solutions to large enterprises. But the industry landscape has been changing and Teradata has failed to keep pace. The likely outcome is that Teradata’s future earnings will be pressured beyond current expectations. Consequently, the Montaka Global Fund maintains a […]
The other big global risk right now
While everyone is focused on a Chinese economic slowdown and the risk of a currency devaluation – and rightly so – we are increasingly concerned with the state of the Italian financial system. By financial system, we mean to include the banking system and the state of the government balance sheet. As you will see, […]
Drilling deeper into the ground
As the price of crude oil fell from $115/bbl to $30/bbl, life for the offshore oil drillers became much more challenging. Drilling offshore was a necessary precursor to many deep-sea oil production projects – which themselves were only economically viable at very high oil prices. At $30/bbl oil, most of these projects are uneconomic; and […]
Can you visualize population distribution?
Everyone knows what a map of the world looks like, but few have a complete understanding of how populations are distributed between countries. Essentially, we are interested in looking at the ratio of population per land area. For example, Australia is a country roughly the size of the United States; yet its population of 24 […]
